Translate

8/8/12

Fresh Pack Bread and Butter Pickles a Quart at a Time

I REALLY like little pickle recipes that you can make a jar or two at a time.  You really do not always have enough for a big recipe and I HATE to let anything go to waste.  Fresh pack pickles are so popular and everyone loves those Klaussen Fresh Packs!

This is a recipe I saw on line at Williams-Sonoma and held on to for just the day I had a few cucumbers that needed to become something.  I am very happy with the results  my version netted and I hope you will be too.

Ingredients for One Quart of Fresh Pack Bread and Butter Pickles:

4 C. sliced cucumbers sliced about 1/8" thick
1 sweet onion sliced as above
2 C. white wine vinegar or 2 C. white vinegar
3/4 C. sugar
1/4 C. kosher salt
 1 t. mustard seed
1 t. celery seed
2 bay leaves

Slice the cucumbers and onions into a nonreactive container and set aside.  Pour the remaining ingredients into a medium sized nonreactive sauce pan and bring to a boil stirring until the salt and sugar are dissolved.

Pour the hot brine over the vegetables and stir together well.  Let cool to room temperature and pack into a clean one quart jar and screw on the lid.  Store in the refrigerator.  Will keep well for  a month refrigerated.

Discard any remaining brine.  Yield 1 quart.

4 comments:

Diane said...

Oh Yum! I have been trying different pickle recipes and putting them in the fridge to try them... I figure once I find one I love I can tackle canning :-) I have this one on the list! Looks and sounds delicious!

Marina said...

I love the recipe, but have you tried it: Isn't two cups of vinegar too much? I'd like to know what you think. Thanks! :)

Unknown said...

Actually that is an interesting question. What I think happens is that the cucumbers give up a lot of their liquid and that gives the appropriate dilution to the brine. Many pickle recipes call for the cukes to both sit and drain before meeting up directly with the vinegar.
Here you never drain any liquid off and rather the sliced pickles and onion sit in the hot brine and cool to room temperature. To further support my conclusion.....I made 2 batches of brine. One with wine vinegar and one with white vinegar which would net 6 cups of liquid. I had 13 cups of sliced pickles and onions. My net was 3 quarts and 1/2 pints of Bread and Butter Pickles with almost a full quart of brine left. By rights I should have had to make an additional batch of brine for that many cucumbers. When I tasted the brine it was to my liking and just fine. So give it a try and I would love to hear back from you what you think, Thanks. Diane

Unknown said...

15 minutes later!! I just went upstairs and tasted these again and want to add they are NOT really really sweet. I think if I want a sweeter style bread and butter pickle I would up the sugar another cup or so. They are fresh pack, tangy sweet, just a bit sharp, that is how I like them. But then I have never tasted a pickle I didn't like unless they were mushy.